U.S. Mega-Brokerage eXp Buys up Canadian Marketplace Zoocasa

The U.S. brokerage firm eXp Realty has announced that it is to acquire the Canadian search portal and brokerage company Zoocasa.

In a press release the Bellingham, WA-based company said that it would acquire Zoocasa and its search portal to bolster lead generation efforts and confirmed that the deal is expected to go through in July. No details of the acquisition price were divulged in the statement.

“Online home search and lead generation portals are critical tools in residential real estate – both for customers looking to buy and sell homes, and our agents building their businesses,” said Glenn Sanford, Founder, Chairman and CEO of eXp World Holdings.

“We’re excited about bringing Zoocasa into the eXp World Holdings family of companies. Their experienced leadership team, technology and well-known Canadian brand will position us to create a unique portal experience, with a goal of taking home search and lead generation to the next level across North America. This acquisition is a testament to our continued investment in growth to differentiate, be a destination brokerage and give our agents a proprietary option for nurtured and inside sales qualified leads.”

Zoocasa describes itself as "an all-in-one intelligent, scalable listings platform that provides a seamless home search experience, deep market insights and a connection to local real estate experts". Like Redfin in the United States, Zoocasa is effectively a brokerage company that, thanks to the availability of listings via the MLS system, has built itself up as a search destination for Canadian home hunters.

Zoocasa was founded in 2015 and bought out by current CEO, Lauren Haw and a group of investors in the same year. The brokerage business has around 150 in-house agents.

“Joining eXp Realty and eXp World Holdings is an exciting next step for the expansion of Zoocasa’s impact as we continue to redefine our portal and lead generation technology to create excellent experiences for customers and agents,” said Lauren Haw, CEO and Broker of Record of Zoocasa. “eXp’s cloud-based model is a perfect fit for our team and we look forward to growing our business with eXp’s leadership team and network of agents.”

eXp is one of the biggest brokerages in the United States and claims to be the fastest-growing real estate company in the world with more than 82,000 agents all over the world.  As a public company founded in 1987, eXp allows its agents to earn equity for meeting goals.